Along the same lines as this revelation, I remember the first time I realized that Arkansas was basically the word “Kansas” with an ‘A’ and a ‘R’ leading the way. There was a moment of disbelief, followed by the looping of of the noise are-kansas, are-kansas, are-kansas, are-kansas, as my brain attempted to process and reconcile these two state names. Was this some sort of joke? Why hadn’t anyone told me? How did it escape my notice? How could they be different?
Arkansas was the first to enter the Union,1936
Kansas trailed behind, joining in 1861. As with many place names in America, the root of Kansas goes back to the people who lived on the land prior to European settlers. The area that now makes up the state of Kansas was home to the K
anza people (officially known now as the Kaw Nation). According to kawnation.com, when the original French explorers of the region approached the people living on the land and inquired as to the name of the people and the place, the French phonetically recorded the answer “Koln-Za” as Kanza, which over time transitioned to Kansas. Great, that explains Kansas. But what about Ar-kansas? The Kanza people, before being squished into an area in Oklahoma, after a number of “treaties” with the federal government occupied great swaths of land on the Northern Plains. This is not where Ar-kansas is.
Well, this is where things get a little tricky. Inhabiting the land to now known as Arkansas, was a group of people now known as the Quapaw people. The Quapaw were known by other area tribes as “the downstream people,” inhabiting the land where the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers met. Another phonetic spelling adventure by French explorers attempting to record what their local guides orally reported to them about the downstream people led them to label the Quapaw and their area as “Akansea” which, over time, morphed into Arkansas.
What does this mean? Only that the two state names are unrelated! Unless, you were going to count their shared origin in phonetic interpretation.
